Hope seeks to educate students for lives of service and leadership in a global society.Key to this education is an environment that fosters racial, global and cultural understanding by providing opportunities for encountering the diversity that is characteristic of our nation and world. We strongly believe that only in such an atmosphere can all students thrive, succeed and become world citizens.

Encountering the world is a hallmark of a Hope College education.

This has been so since Hope's earliest days. In 1879, shortly after the establishment of the school, two students out of the graduating class of six were Japanese. These graduates were soon followed by students from Germany, Austria, China, India, Iraq, South Africa, Kenya, Palestine, Ethiopia, Mexico and many other countries. Today, the student body includes representatives from every continent.

Our goal remains: to offer an excellent liberal arts education and to provide an atmosphere on campus in which students can encounter the diversity of our nation and the global society in which they will soon work and live. We invite you to seriously consider how a Hope education can provide you the requisite academic and critical skills for serving and leading in an increasingly complex and interconnected world.

Growing Hope in the world,

Alfredo M. Gonzales
Associate Provost
and Dean for International and Multicultural Education